'Audrie's Law' targets rapes of passed-out teens

Updated 6:42 am, Saturday, March 8, 2014

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press

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Sheila Pott, mother of Audrie Pott, reads a statement in support of Audrie's Law on Friday, March 7, 2014, in Saratoga, Calif. Audrie's Law is a legislative proposal aimed at deterring the bullying, cyberbullying, and sexual assault that played roles in the suicide of Audrie Pott, a 15-year-old Saratoga High School student. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) less

Sheila Pott, mother of Audrie Pott, reads a statement in support of Audrie's Law on Friday, March 7, 2014, in Saratoga, Calif. Audrie's Law is a legislative proposal aimed at deterring the bullying, ... more

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press

'Audrie's Law' targets rapes of passed-out teens

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The mother of Audrie Pott, the 15-year-old Saratoga girl who killed herself after photos of her being sexually assaulted while intoxicated were texted to classmates, helped unveil a bill Friday that would give prosecutors discretion to try juveniles as adults in attacks on incapacitated victims.

Sheila Pott joined state Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, and Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen at a news conference at the Saratoga Library to introduce "Audrie's Law."

Juveniles can now be sent directly to adult court for certain allegations, including murder, robbery and instances of rape, sodomy and oral copulation in which force is used. But sexual assaults against victims who are incapacitated aren't necessarily covered, because their attackers can argue force wasn't required.

"Under current law, if a group of young men hold down a young woman and rape her, they can be charged in adult court, with adult charges," Rosen said. "But if those same young men instead ply the young woman with alcohol and then rape her, they must be tried in juvenile court."

If passed, Audrie's Law would allow authorities to prosecute juveniles who are least 14 years old in adult court - which is open to the public - for sexual assaults against victims who are drunk, mentally, developmentally or physically disabled or otherwise unable to defend themselves.

"The law needs to be changed," Pott said. "We believe that if the identity of the sexual offenders and their sentence is exposed, it would deter future incidents and put the community on alert."

The proposed legislation comes amid increased attention on incidents around the country in which teenage boys have been accused of taking advantage of defenseless girls.

Legal distinctions

Moreover, some advocates for rape victims have expressed frustration over distinctions made between rape victims who fight back and those who can't because they are unconscious.

These distinctions played a role in the case against a group of boys and men who gang-raped a drunken Richmond girl outside a school homecoming dance in 2009.

But giving prosecutors discretion to file more cases in adult court has long been controversial.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said state legislators "should be very careful in deciding which cases to allow a prosecutor to bypass juvenile court."

Adachi noted that under current law, a juvenile can still end up in adult court on charges of sexually assaulting an incapacitated victim - but only after prosecutors prove to a judge at a hearing that the youth isn't fit to be rehabilitated through juvenile court.

"This new law would allow a prosecutor to treat a minor as an adult without any showing that the minor cannot be rehabilitated," he said.

Dan Macallair, who heads the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice in San Francisco, said that while he sympathized with Audrie's family, "I think this is another bad piece of legislation driven by a single, tragic event."

Audrie hanged herself Sept. 10, 2012, in a bathroom at her mother's house, eight days after she went to a party at a friend's house in Saratoga with 12 other students. After drinking alcohol-laced Gatorade, she fell asleep and woke up without her shorts on and with mocking words written on her body.

Cell phone photos

Over the next week, Audrie learned that cell phone photos had been taken of her during the assault and shared through text messages, her family said.

Three teenage boys have admitted in Santa Clara County Juvenile Court to sexually assaulting Audrie. The names of the juveniles weren't released because of their ages. They were ordered to serve between 30 and 45 days in juvenile detention.

The teens have also been sued by Audrie's parents.

"We were forced to sit through the juvenile process and witness the great protections that were provided to the perpetrators in this case," Pott said. "There was no public conviction, no element of acknowledgment or deterrent to reoffend and certainly no remorse or apology."

The bill, SB838, would also create a new crime related to cyberbullying, making it a felony in some cases to share sexual pictures of a minor electronically.

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